Methods and systems for selecting and implementing digital personas across applications and services

ABSTRACT

A persona determination approach can be utilized to apply digital personas across multiple communications domains. A service gateway can determine whether to transfer a request for communications services to a Persona Determination Mechanism (PDM). The PDM can select a digital persona based on available information and transmit the digital persona to the service gateway. The service gateway can process the communications services based on the selected digital persona or based on the determination not to transfer the request. In some methods, the service gateway can forward the processed request to one or more network elements for further processing. Related systems are also disclosed.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.14/176,823, filed Feb. 10, 2014, which is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 12/787,287, filed May 25, 2010, the disclosures ofwhich are hereby incorporated herein by reference as if set forth intheir entireties.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the field of electroniccommunications.

BACKGROUND

Users of some electronic devices can create digital profiles that shapethe users' interactions with the electronic devices. For example, anetwork can provide personalized telephony services to digital profiles,or personas, rather than phone lines or phone numbers.

In some situations, users may want to implement several personas withthe same telephonic or multimedia communications device. For example, auser may have separate business and personal personas on a single mobilephone. With a communications architecture that supports personas, use ofthe separate personas may be billed individually, and the separatepersonas may treat incoming and outgoing calls differently based on suchfactors as customer choice or the identity of the caller.

SUMMARY

Embodiments according to the invention can provide methods and systemsfor applying digital personas across multiple communications domains(e.g., telephony, messaging, web services, and email) by applying acommon set of criteria in all domains. A user's digital personas may bedefined as the sets of rules used by a network for directingcommunications requests intended for the user, whether the rules are fortelephony, messaging, access to the user's web-based information, email,or other communications methods. The common digital personas may bedetermined by access to a Persona Determination Mechanism (PDM) used byall of the domains. Each domain may access the PDM to determine anappropriate processing sequence for the requested communicationsservice.

The methods and systems for applying digital personas may includedetermining, by the use of a processor circuit in a service gateway,whether to transfer a request for communications services from theservice gateway to the PDM. In some embodiments, the PDM, using aprocessor circuit, may select a digital persona based on informationavailable and transmit the selected digital persona to the servicegateway. The service gateway may process, using a processor circuit, thecommunications services based on the selected digital persona if it sentthe request to the PDM or based on an asserted digital persona from theoriginal request if it did not.

Other methods and/or systems according to other embodiments will be, orbecome, apparent to one with skill in the art upon review of thefollowing drawings and detailed description. It is intended that allsuch additional systems and/or methods be included within thisdescription and be protected by the accompanying claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of methods and systems of personadetermination, including a service gateway that receives requests forcommunications services, and a Persona Determination Mechanism (PDM)that communicates with the service gateway in some embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart that illustrates operations of some embodiments ofthe methods and systems illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of operations of a service gateway of someembodiments of the methods and systems illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a request/response flow diagram that illustrates personadetermination operations responsive to a request for web services insome embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates processor circuits configuredto operate methods and systems of persona determination in someembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Methods for selecting and implementing digital personas, as well asrelated systems, will now be described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which illustrativeembodiments are shown. However, it will be appreciated that thesemethods and systems may be embodied in many different forms, and thusthe present application should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and to fully conveythe scope of the embodiments to those skilled in the art. Like referencenumbers refer to like elements throughout.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the embodiments.As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an,” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,”“comprising,” “includes,” and/or “including,” when used herein, specifythe presence of stated features, steps, operations, elements, and/orcomponents, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or moreother features, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groupsthereof.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being“coupled,” “connected,” or “responsive” to another element, it can bedirectly coupled, connected, or responsive to the other element, orintervening elements may also be present. In contrast, when an elementis referred to as being “directly coupled”, “directly connected,” or“directly responsive” to another element, there are no interveningelements present. As used herein the term “and/or” includes any and allcombinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. maybe used herein to describe various elements, these elements should notbe limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish oneelement from another. Thus, a first element could be termed a secondelement without departing from the teachings of the present embodiments.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which these embodiments belong. It willbe further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art andwill not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unlessexpressly so defined herein.

Embodiments are also described using flowchart illustrations and blockdiagrams. It will be understood that each block (of the flowcharts andblock diagrams), and combinations of blocks, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These program instructions may beprovided to a processor circuit, such as a microprocessor,microcontroller, or other processor, such that the instructions whichexecute on the processor(s) create means for implementing the functionsspecified in the block or blocks. The computer program instructions maybe executed by the processor circuit(s) to cause a series of operationalsteps to be performed by the processor circuit(s) to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on theprocessor circuit(s) provide steps for implementing the functionsspecified in the block or blocks.

Accordingly, the blocks support combinations of means for performing thespecified functions, combinations of steps for performing the specifiedfunctions, and program instruction means for performing the specifiedfunctions. It will also be understood that each block, and combinationsof blocks, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systemswhich perform the specified functions or steps, or combinations ofspecial purpose hardware and computer instructions.

It should also be noted that in some alternate implementations, thefunctions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted inthe flowcharts. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in factbe executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes beexecuted in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/actsinvolved.

Computer program code or “code” for carrying out operations inembodiments may be written in a procedural language provided by adatabase environment, such as PL/SQL in an Oracle database orTransact-SQL in Microsoft or Sybase databases, and/or a programminglanguage such as Java, C++, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Perl, or invarious other programming languages. Software embodiments do not dependon implementation with a particular programming language. The code, orportions thereof, may execute entirely on one or more servers, or it mayexecute partly on a server and partly on a client within a client deviceor as a proxy server at an intermediate point in a communicationsnetwork. In the latter scenario, the client device may be connected to aserver over a LAN or a WAN (e.g., an intranet), or the connection may bemade through the web (e.g., via an Internet Service Provider). It isunderstood that the present embodiments are not TCP/IP-specific orinternet-specific. Exemplary embodiments may be implemented usingvarious protocols over various types of computer networks.

In some embodiments, a Persona Determination Mechanism (PDM) can beutilized to select a digital persona to process communications servicesdelivered by a service gateway to a party requesting the communicationsservices. The PDM and service gateway can thus collaborate to determinea level of accessibility and an overall environment of thecommunications services delivered to the requesting party. In thecontext of web services, for example, different digital personas mayallocate different resources, including access to information, socialnetworks, and/or multimedia content.

Examples of service gateways include a Serving-Call Session ControlFunction (S-CSCF), an email gateway, and a network element that changes,by techniques such as late binding, a requested Uniform Resource Locator(URL) in a web request. Communications between the service gateway andthe PDM may alter the selection of the digital persona by changing ormanipulating an identity associated with the request for communicationsservices. For example, the identity changed/manipulated may be anInternet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) Public User Identifier(PUID) or other identifier indicating an originating or terminatingparty to a communications session such as a telephone call or IMSmessaging exchange. Alternatively, the identity changed/manipulated maybe an email address, a portion of a URL referring to a name or locationof a requested resource, or an identifier understood by an applicationserver.

In some embodiments, the service gateway can bypass the PDM and processthe communications services based on a digital persona asserted by theparty requesting the communications services. For example, the servicegateway can determine whether a digital persona is asserted in a requestfor communications services and, further, the service gateway candetermine whether to transfer the request from the service gateway tothe PDM or to process the communications services based on the asserteddigital persona.

FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a persona determination system125 including a service gateway 120 and a Persona DeterminationMechanism (PDM) 130. When a requesting party 100 makes a request forcommunications services 110, the service gateway 120 of the personadetermination system 125 receives the request for communicationsservices 110. The persona determination system 125 determines a digitalpersona for the communications services and delivers persona-based,processed communications services 140 to the requesting party 100. Insome embodiments, the persona determination system 125 determines thedigital persona by implementing both the service gateway 120 and the PDM130. In other embodiments, the persona determination system 125 bypassesthe PDM 130 and determines the digital persona at the service gateway120. It will be further understood that the persona determination system125 shown in FIG. 1, along with the components therein, can provide theoperations illustrated, for example, in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 herein.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the methods and systems describedherein that may use the persona determination system 125 illustrated inFIG. 1. According to FIG. 2, the service gateway 120 receives therequest for communications services 110 (Block 200) and determineswhether a digital persona is asserted by the request for communicationsservices 110 (Block 210). The service gateway 120 can make thisdetermination based on whether the requesting party 100 submits securityinformation, such as a password, digital key, direct extension, ordirect address, with the request for communications services 110. If adigital persona is asserted (Block 210), the service gateway 120determines whether to maintain the asserted digital persona (Block 215).The service gateway 120 can make this determination by evaluating accessinformation, such as the identity of the requesting party 100, thesecurity information submitted by the requesting party 100, and/oraccess preferences of the user subscribing to the PDM 130. Accessinformation may be stored within the PDM 130 and/or within a networkelement such as a network address book, presence server, or locationserver. If the service gateway 120 decides to maintain the asserteddigital persona (Block 215), the service gateway 120 processes thecommunications services based on the asserted digital persona (Block225). Because the service gateway 120 can decide to maintain theasserted digital persona instead of transferring the request forcommunications services 110 to the PDM 130, the persona determinationsystem 125 may apply a digital persona to communications serviceswithout implementing the PDM 130. The PDM 130 and/or the service gateway120 can modify the request for communications services 110, anddown-line systems that process the request for communications services110 after the service gateway 120 may provide different services basedon the modifications.

As an alternative to maintaining the asserted digital persona, thepersona determination system 125 may apply a new digital persona byimplementing both the service gateway 120 and the PDM 130. For example,if a digital persona is not asserted by the request for communicationsservices 110 (Block 210), the service gateway 120 transfers the requestfor communications services 110 to the PDM 130 (Block 220). The servicegateway 120 also transfers the request for communications services 110to the PDM 130 (Block 220) if a digital persona is asserted (Block 210)but the service gateway 120 decides not to maintain the asserted digitalpersona (Block 215). For example, the service gateway 120 may decide notto maintain the asserted digital persona based on preferences of theuser subscribing to the PDM 130. The service gateway 120 also may decidenot to maintain the asserted digital persona based on access informationin the request for communications services 110 indicating a restrictedrelationship between the requesting party 100 and the user subscribingto the PDM 130. Furthermore, the service gateway 120 may decide not tomaintain the asserted digital persona based on access informationindicating the absence or invalidity of security information in therequest for communications services 110. After the service gateway 120transfers the request to the PDM 130 (Block 220), the PDM 130 selects anew digital persona based on information available to the PDM 130, andtransmits the new digital persona to the service gateway 120 (Block230).

After the PDM 130 selects the new digital persona and transmits the newdigital persona to the service gateway 120 (Block 230), the servicegateway 120 processes the communications services based on the newdigital persona (Block 240). It will be understood that the servicegateway 120 may provide web, email, and/or phone services. Phoneservices may include voice, text, and multimedia services, as well asany other service transmitted via electronic bits for person-to-personcommunications. The service gateway 120 may communicate with applicationservers, including web application servers, email servers, and/or IMSapplication servers. The service gateway 120 provides processedcommunications services 140 based on a digital persona, and the digitalpersona may be either the asserted digital persona (Block 225) or thenew digital persona (Block 240). The service gateway 120 may alsocommunicate with an application server to render the processedcommunications services 140 based on the digital persona before theservice gateway 120 delivers the processed communications services 140to the requesting party 100.

The information available to the PDM 130 for determining the new digitalpersona may include information stored within the PDM 130 and/orinformation accessed by the PDM 130 but stored elsewhere. For example,the available information may include enabler settings, which mayinclude an address book detailing different categories of contacts ofthe user subscribing to the PDM 130, including such categories asEmployees, Friends, Customers, Family, and Colleagues. A default orspecialized persona may also be applied to unclassified contacts, thusinstructing the PDM 130 on how to respond to requests for communicationsservices 110 from a new or unrecognized requesting party 100. The usersubscribing to the PDM 130 can determine/modify, for example, whichcategory applies to a given contact, and the enabler settings can mapeach category to a particular persona. Also, changing a contact once inthe address book can affect the treatment of that contact by allapplications modified by the PDM 130 because the address book mayoperate across devices, services, and applications using a givencommunications network. In another example, the user subscribing to thePDM 130 can determine/modify what personal information is availablethrough communications services delivered to contacts associated with aparticular persona, such as contacts categorized as Customers, and sucha determination/modification may apply to every contact receivingcommunications services processed by the Customer persona. The usersubscribing to the PDM 130 can thus implement unified enabler settingsacross applications, devices, and services instead of having to maintainand modify multiple contact lists in multiple applications. Accordingly,the user subscribing to the PDM 130 can create separate, persona-basedprofiles in different applications, such as social networking websitesand messaging services, and the PDM 130 can personalize thecommunications services provided to contacts by selecting a digitalpersona based on enabler settings applicable across applications,services, and devices. For example, the Family persona may be selectedby the unified enabler settings and may include separate email,telephony, messaging, and web page processing or treatments that arecustomized respective to the individual applications. Different digitalpersonas may thus be associated with different manners of personalizingcommunications services, such as through demanding different accessrequirements or sharing different content and application capabilities,and the PDM 130 may use available information, such as the enablersettings, to determine which digital persona to apply to a givencommunications service.

The enabler settings may further include rules regarding such factors asthe time of the day, the day of the week, the present geographiclocation of the user subscribing to the PDM 130, words typed or spokenby the requesting party 100, and the target application using thecommunications services. The rules may include preferences of the usersubscribing to the PDM 130. In the context of phone services, forexample, the PDM 130 may use enabler settings to select a digitalpersona that may determine that a particular audio clip will be playedto the requesting party 100 as a voicemail greeting, that particularmenu options will be provided to the requesting party 100, or that therequesting party 100 will be informed or entertained while the usersubscribing to the PDM 130 is alerted of the request for communicationsservices 110. As described herein, the enabler settings may select adigital persona based, for example, on the identity of the requestingparty 100 making a phone call, the time or date of the call, or thegeographic location of the user subscribing to the PDM 130 during thecall. The selected digital persona then determines which audio clip toplay. The enabler settings may also select a digital persona thataffects the routing of phone services, including determining when toroute calls to voicemail. It will be understood that phone servicesinclude communications services for landline and mobile devices andapplications.

The persona determination system 125 will apply the same digital personacategory, such as the Friend category, without regard to the particularservice gateway 120 or PDM 130 processing the request for communicationsservices 110. For example, the PDM 130 must follow the rules defined inthe enabler settings, and the rules are consistent across differentcommunications services. Accordingly, regardless of whether Sally triesto call Harry, send him a text message, send him an email, or access hisweb page, the persona determination system 125 will consistentlycategorize the digital persona for her according to the enablersettings.

In some embodiments, in the context of email services, the enablersettings may treat incoming emails differently based on such factors asthe content of the email and the identity of the requesting party 100originating the email. The PDM 130 could thus select a digital personaaffecting the treatment of email services provided to the usersubscribing to the PDM 130 instead of, or in addition to, selecting adigital persona affecting email services delivered to the requestingparty 100, including manual or automated email responses delivered tothe requesting party 100. For example, different digital personas may beapplied to incoming emails to provide the user subscribing to the PDM130 with different email display characteristics, organization of emailmessages, routing of email messages to various inboxes, and/or emailalerts.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating various aspects of a servicegateway 320 implemented in the methods and systems described herein andillustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the various operations of theservice gateway 320 may include determining whether to transfer therequest for communications services 110 to the PDM 130 (Block 325). Theservice gateway 320 may make this determination by evaluating accessinformation such as the identity of the requesting party 100, securityinformation provided to the requesting party 100 by the user subscribingto the PDM 130, and/or access preferences of the user subscribing to thePDM 130. The identity of the requesting party 100 may includeinformation regarding the requesting party's 100 relationship with theuser subscribing to the PDM 130. For example, the service gateway 320may decide to transfer the request for communications services 110 tothe PDM 130 when the requesting party 100 is an Employee or a Customer,and decide not to transfer when the requesting party 100 is a Friend,Colleague, or Family.

The service gateway 320 may evaluate security information provided tothe requesting party 100 by evaluating security information submitted bythe requesting party 100 in the request for communications services 110,including such security information as a password, digital key, directextension, or direct address. For example, in the context of webservices, the user subscribing to the PDM 130 may provide the requestingparty 100 with a direct URL that instructs the service gateway 320 tobypass the PDM 130.

In some embodiments, the service gateway 320 may evaluate accessinformation by evaluating access preferences of the user subscribing tothe PDM 130. For example, the user may prefer that the service gateway320 transfer every request for communications services 110 to the PDM130, regardless of the access information submitted by the requestingparty 100. Alternatively, the user subscribing to the PDM 130 may preferthat the service gateway 320 transfer all requests for communicationsservices 110 submitted during a particular time of the day, on aparticular day of the week, based on the geographic location of the usersubscribing to the PDM 130, or based on the target application using thecommunications services. Moreover, the user subscribing to the PDM 130may prefer that the service gateway 320 transfer all requests forcommunications services 110 from a particular requesting party 100. Forexample, the user subscribing to the PDM 130 may have previouslyprovided security information to a certain requesting party 100 that theuser subscribing to the PDM 130 subsequently prefers not to have directaccess.

The service gateway 320 may also determine whether a digital persona isasserted by the request for communications services 110 (Block 315). Theservice gateway 320 can make this determination based on whether therequesting party 100 submits security information with the request forcommunications services 110. As described herein, the service gateway320 may evaluate security information such as a password, digital key,direct extension, or direct address (Block 325).

The service gateway 320 may use a digital persona, whether asserted bythe request for communications services 110 or selected by the PDM 130,to process communications services before delivering the communicationsservices to the requesting party 100 (Block 345). The service gateway320 may provide web, email, and/or phone services. The service gateway320 may forward the request for communications services 110 to one ormore network elements, such as network servers, and may change/modifythe request for communications services 110 before forwarding it. Forexample, the service gateway 320 may communicate with applicationservers, including web application servers, email servers, and/or IMSapplication servers. The service gateway 320 may communicate with one ormore of the application servers to render the processed communicationsservices 140 based on the digital persona before the service gateway 320delivers the processed communications services 140 to the requestingparty 100. After communicating with the one or more application serversto render the processed communications services 140, the service gateway320 may also transmit the processed communications services 140 to oneor more additional application servers for additional processing beforedelivery to the requesting party 100.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating some embodiments of the methodsand systems described herein responsive to a request for web services. Arequesting party 400 may request 410 a website associated with a user,Sally, subscribing to a Persona Determination Mechanism (PDM) 430. Therequest 410 may be a URL such as http://www.att.net/˜Sally/index.html. Aservice gateway 420 receives the request 410, and may transfer therequest 410 to the PDM 430. The service gateway 420 may modify the URLof the request 410 and transfer the modified URL, such ashttp://Persona.asp?˜Sally/index.html, to the PDM 430. The modified URLmay indicate, for example, that the request 410 generally asked for awebsite associated with Sally. The modified URL may also indicaterequests 410 asking for a more specific website associated with Sally,including requests 410 such ashttp://www.att.net/˜Sally/SallyCustomer.html. The PDM 430 may select adigital persona based on information associated with the request 410 andbased on enabler settings that may be defined by the user subscribing tothe PDM 430. The PDM 430 may then transmit the selected digital personato the service gateway 420. For example, the PDM 430 may transmit aFriend persona by transmitting a URL such ashttp://www.att.net/˜Sally/SallyFriend.html to the service gateway 420.Alternatively, the PDM 430 may transmit a Friend persona by transmittinga string such as “SallyFriend” that allows the service gateway 420 toformulate a new URL. The service gateway 420 may then process thecommunications services based on the selected digital persona changingthe URL and forward the processed communications services 440 directlyor indirectly to a web application server 435, where the resource may beaccessed. For example, the service gateway 420 may request website suchas WebPage.asp?˜Sally/SallyFriend.html 440 from the web applicationserver 435, which transmits the processed communications services 440back to the service gateway 420 after further processing and before theservice gateway delivers the processed communications services 440 tothe requesting party 400.

In some embodiments, the service gateway 420 may deliver the processedcommunications services 440 directly to the requesting party 400 withoutrequesting further processing from the web application server 435. Forexample, the service gateway 420 may be a web application server, andthe service gateway 420 may not require further processing fromadditional web application servers 435.

In some embodiments, the service gateway 420 may process the request 410and deliver persona-specific, processed communications services 440 tothe requesting party 400 without transferring the request 410 to the PDM430. In particular, the user subscribing to the PDM 430 may configurethe service gateway 420 to bypass the PDM 430 and process thecommunications services based on a digital persona asserted by therequest 410. For example, the service gateway 420 may allow therequesting party 400 to assert the Customer persona by requesting adirect URL such as http://www.att.net/˜Sally/SallyCustomer.html.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 500 onwhich the methods and systems described herein may be used. Computersystem 500 may include a processor circuit 505 for processing commandsand information, and which may be communicatively coupled to bus 510.The processor circuit 505 may be embodied, for example, as one or moreenterprise, application, personal, pervasive, and/or embedded computersystems and/or special purpose hardware that may be centralized and/ordistributed and connected by a wired network and/or a wireless network.Computer system 500 may also include main memory 515 communicativelycoupled to bus 510. Main memory 515 may include a random access memory(RAM) or other volatile storage device for storing executingapplications or intermediate information during execution ofinstructions by processor circuit 505, and/or a read-only memory (ROM)or other non-volatile storage device for storing static information andinstructions for processor circuit 505. Computer system 500 may furtherinclude storage device 520, such as a hard disk drive or other magneticmedia device, a compact disc (CD) or digital versatile disc (DVD) driveor other optical media device, or a flash drive or other solid-statedevice, communicatively coupled to bus 510. Storage device 520 may beused for storing instructions and data for processing by processorcircuit 505. Computer system 500 may be communicatively coupled via bus510 to display 525, such as a liquid-crystal display (LCD) or cathoderay tube (CRT) monitor. Computer system 500 may also be communicativelycoupled via bus 510 to input device 530, which may be a device such as akeyboard for entering alphanumeric input, or a mouse, trackball, ortouch pad for providing cursor control.

Computer system 500 may also include a network interface 535communicatively coupled to bus 510. Network interface 535, such as awired or wireless network interface card (NIC), a modem, or othercommunications device, may provide a bi-directional data communicationcoupling via network link 540 to a local network 545. Network link 540may provide data communication to, e.g., host computer 550 via localnetwork 545, or to server 555 via the Internet 560. In this way,computer system 500 may send and receive messages and data, includingprogram code, through network interface 535 and network link 540.

According to some embodiments of the invention, the methods describedherein are performed by computer system 500 in response to processorcircuit 505 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructionscontained in main memory 515. Such instructions may be read into mainmemory 515 from another computer-readable medium, such as storage device520. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory515 causes processor circuit 505 to perform the steps described herein.For example, the user subscribing to the PDM 130 may use the inputdevice 530 to define and/or modify enabler settings, which may be storedin main memory 515. Accordingly, in embodiments where service gateway120 transfers requests for communications services 110 to the PDM 130,PDM 130 may select a digital persona based on enabler settings thatprocessor circuit 505 accesses from main memory 515. In another example,service gateway 120 may use processor circuit 505 to process accessinformation, such as preferences of the user subscribing to the PDM 130that are stored in main memory 515, and thereby determine whether totransfer the request for communications services 110 to the PDM 130. Ina further example, service gateway 120 may use computer system 500 andprocessor circuit 505 to communicate with server 555, such as one ormore of the application servers, to authenticate and/or authorizerequests for communications services 110, and/or to process thecommunications services.

In alternative embodiments, hardware circuitry may be used in place ofor in combination with software instructions to implement the invention.Thus, embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specificcombination of hardware circuitry and software. Moreover, it will beappreciated by one of skill in the art that embodiments of the inventionmay be implemented on a single computer system 500, or may beimplemented on, e.g., a high-availability cluster of two or morecomputer systems, each substantially similar to computer system 500.

The present invention is related to the use of persona determinationsystem 125 for implementing the methods and systems described herein.The persona determination system 125 is responsive to requests forcommunications services 110 from requesting party 100. The personadetermination system 125 may include service gateway 120, PDM 130, andapplication servers. Service gateway 120 may operate with applicationservers to authenticate and/or authorize requests for communicationsservices 110. Service gateway 120 may also operate with applicationservers to apply a digital persona to communications services to processthe communications services. Finally, service gateway 120 processesand/or routes processed communications services 140 to the requestingparty 100. In some embodiments, service gateway 120 may transfer therequest for communications services 110 to PDM 130, which selects a newdigital persona based on available information, such as enabler settingsEmbodiments of the invention may apply digital personas across multiplecommunications domains, including such communications services as web,email, and phone services, and various devices and applications capableof accessing communications services. Thus, embodiments of the inventionare not limited to any specific combination of communications services,applications, and devices.

Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connectionwith the above description and the drawings. It will be understood thatit would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe andillustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments.Accordingly, the present specification, including the drawings, shall beconstrued to constitute a complete written description of allcombinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein,and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shallsupport claims to any such combination or subcombination.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed variousembodiments and, although specific terms are employed, they are used ina generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of applying digital personas acrossmultiple communications domains, comprising: receiving a request forcommunications services from a requesting party at a service gateway;evaluating access preferences for the communication services, the accesspreferences being defined separately from the request for communicationservices; determining whether to maintain an original digital personarepresentative of the requesting party and asserted by the request or totransfer the request from the service gateway to a persona determinationmechanism based on the access preferences; receiving a new digitalpersona representative of the requesting party from the personadetermination mechanism responsive to the transfer of the request fromthe service gateway to the persona determination mechanism; using one ofthe new digital persona representative of the requesting party and theoriginal digital persona representative of the requesting party toelectronically process the communication services; and providing thecommunication services to the requesting party over a communicationnetwork.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the new digitalpersona is applicable to web, email, and phone services.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: wherein the communicationservices comprise web, email, and phone services.
 4. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the service gateway comprises one of aServing-Call Session Control Function, a late-binding-capable webserver, an email gateway, and a web application server.
 5. The methodaccording to claim 1, further comprising: forwarding the request fromthe service gateway to a network element.
 6. The method according toclaim 5, wherein the network element comprises an application server. 7.The method according to claim 5, wherein the service gateway forwards amodified form of the request.
 8. The method according to claim 1,further comprising evaluating access information included in therequest; and wherein determining whether to maintain the originaldigital persona comprises determining whether to maintain the originaldigital persona representative of the requesting party and asserted bythe request or to transfer the request from the service gateway to apersona determination mechanism based on the access information.
 9. Themethod according to claim 8, wherein the access information furthercomprises identity information corresponding to an identity of therequesting party.
 10. The method according to claim 8, wherein theaccess information further comprises security information provided bythe requesting party.
 11. The method according to claim 1, wherein theaccess preferences are stored within the persona determinationmechanism.
 12. The method according to claim 1, wherein the accesspreferences are retrieved from a network element other than the personadetermination mechanism.
 13. A system of applying digital personasacross multiple communications domains, comprising: a processor; and acomputer readable medium that comprises computer readable program codethat when executed by the processor causes the processor to performoperations comprising: receiving a request for communications servicesfrom a requesting party at a service gateway; evaluating accesspreferences for the communication services, the access preferences beingdefined separately from the request for communication services;determining whether to maintain an original digital personarepresentative of the requesting party and asserted by the request or totransfer the request from the service gateway to a persona determinationmechanism based on the access preferences; receiving a new digitalpersona representative of the requesting party from the personadetermination mechanism responsive to the transfer of the request fromthe service gateway to the persona determination mechanism using one ofthe new digital persona representative of the requesting party and theoriginal digital persona representative of the requesting party toelectronically process the communication services; and providing thecommunication services to the requesting party over a communicationnetwork.
 14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the new digitalpersona is applicable to web, email, and phone services.
 15. The systemaccording to claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise: whereinthe communication services comprise web, email, and phone services. 16.The system according to claim 13, wherein the service gateway comprisesone of a Serving-Call Session Control Function, a late-binding-capableweb server, an email gateway, and a web application server.
 17. Thesystem according to claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:forwarding the request from the service gateway to a network element.18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the network elementcomprises an application server.